Okay, so I messed around with Kate Stone’s stuff again today. It was kinda cool, so I figured I’d scribble down what I did.
Getting Started
First things first, I dug out the Kate Stone stuff I had lying around. You know, the usual – the sensor board, some conductive ink, and that little speaker thingy. It’s all pretty basic, but you can do some neat stuff with it.
The Messy Part (Literally)
So, I started by drawing a simple pattern on a piece of paper with the conductive ink. Just some squiggly lines and a couple of circles. I wasn’t really going for anything fancy, just wanted to see if I could get it working. I let it dry for a bit – this is important, or else you just get a smudgy mess.
Connecting Everything Up
Once the ink was dry, I connected the sensor board to the paper using those little alligator clips. This part can be a bit fiddly, you gotta make sure you have a good connection, or nothing happens. I’ve messed this up a bunch of times before, so I was extra careful.
- Red wire to one part of the ink drawing…
- Black wire to another…
- And so on… Gotta make sure each connection is solid.
Making Some Noise
Then I hooked up the speaker to the sensor board. Again, pretty straightforward, just plugging it in. And… voila! When I touched the different parts of my ink drawing, I got different sounds! It was pretty basic, just beeps and boops, but it was working!
Experimenting a Bit
I spent the next hour or so just messing around. I tried different patterns, added more ink, changed the connections. It’s kinda addictive, seeing how your drawings can actually make sounds.
It is really funny!
It’s not exactly rocket science, but it’s a fun way to spend an afternoon. Plus, it gets you thinking about how you can combine art and technology in simple, but cool, ways. Maybe next time I’ll try something more ambitious… we’ll see!
